JP2783545B2 - IC card - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an IC card in which a memory element such as a semiconductor IC memory element is incorporated in a card body.

[Prior Art] Conventional IC cards of this type use noble metal contacts for transmitting and receiving external data to and from a semiconductor memory element in the IC card. However, when the environmental conditions for using the IC card are poor, there is a problem that the reliability of the noble metal contact is significantly reduced. In order to solve such a problem, there has been proposed a method capable of transmitting and receiving signals without using a mechanical contact. For example, as shown in JP-A-61-246886 or JP-A-62-71697,
Using a light emitting element such as a light emitting diode on the signal transmission side,
By using a light receiving element such as a photodiode or a phototransistor on the signal receiving side, the light receiving element receives a blinking signal of light from the light emitting element.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] Signals are transmitted and received using conventional optical signals
In general, a signal transfer method in an IC card is a serial type, and a light emitting diode is generally used as a light emitting element. Since the blinking frequency of the light emitting diode is usually 1 MHz or less, the transfer speed is low for transferring information having a band of 5 to 10 MHz such as an image signal.
Therefore, there were the following problems.

(1) When transferring a large amount of signals such as images,
Real-time transfer could not be performed, causing a large time delay.

(2) In order to capture an image into an IC memory element provided in an IC card, the image is taken by a camera or the like, converted into an electric signal, and then converted again into an optical signal when transferring the signal to the IC card. It took a major measure to transfer image information.

However, since an image is originally an optical signal, if the image can be directly taken into an IC card without going through a camera or the like, a device for photographing is not required, and the image input should be easy.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an IC card which can transfer signals at high speed and can directly input an image.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to solve the above problems and achieve the objects of the present invention, the IC card of the present invention is configured as follows.

An IC card according to the present invention includes a card body, a memory element built in the card body, and an optical signal for transmitting and / or receiving a signal between the memory element and the outside of the card body by an optical signal. An IC card comprising signal transmitting and receiving means, wherein the optical signal transmitting and receiving means is a light emitting element array for transmitting an optical signal comprising a plurality of light emitting elements,
A light-receiving element array for receiving an optical signal comprising a plurality of light-receiving elements; and a scanning means for controlling scanning of each element in the light-emitting element array and the light-receiving element array. By irradiating the object with light output from the light emitting element array in a state of being close to the object, and detecting reflected light from the object with the light receiving element array, image information of the object is obtained. Illuminance detecting means for directly detecting the illuminance of the reflected light from the object, and a binary for binarizing the image information based on an output signal level of the illuminance detecting means. And a conversion means.

Further, the IC card of the present invention is provided on the IC card main body, scans the IC card main body in a state where the IC card main body is close to an object, and scans the card main body while directly inputting image information of the object. It is characterized by having a scanning amount detecting means for detecting the scanning amount.

[Operation] As described above, since the optical signal transmitting / receiving means is configured to have a function as an image information input means for directly inputting image information of a target object, image information can be easily obtained without using a camera or the like. Can be stored in an IC card. At this time, the illuminance detecting means detects the illuminance of the reflected light from the object, and the binarizing means is configured to binarize the image information based on the illuminance. Binary image information can be captured.

Further, since the scanning amount of the card body is detected by the scanning amount detecting means, it is possible to accurately set the timing of taking in the image information based on the detected scanning amount.

Embodiment FIG. 1 to FIG. 6 are views showing an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an IC card, and FIG.
FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along line -A. As shown in FIG. 1, a signal receiving unit 2, a signal transmitting unit 3, a roller 4, and a sensor 5 are provided on a base end surface of an IC card body 1 having a rectangular parallelepiped shape. A switch 6 and a solar cell 7 are provided on two sides of the IC card body 1, respectively.

As shown in FIG. 2, the signal receiving section 2 includes a CCD line sensor 8 and a cylindrical lens 9 for condensing light on the CCD line sensor 8. The signal transmission unit 3 includes a light emitting diode array 10 and light collecting lenses 11a and 11b for collecting light from the light emitting diode array 10. The roller 4 makes the base end face of the card body 1 face the image surface 20 on which an image to be read / input exists at a predetermined interval, and detects the scanning amount of the card body 1 when scanning on the image surface 20. It is for doing. The sensor 5 detects the brightness of the image plane 20 to be input, and converts the image information read by the CCD line sensor 8 into a binary value and stores it in a semiconductor IC memory (not shown) in the card body 1 as a reference illuminance. It is for obtaining. The switch 6 serves as a contact function for receiving power supply from the reader / writer at the time of loading into a card reader / writer, which will be described later, and for storing image information to be input alone in the semiconductor IC memory element in the card body 1. It also has an input start instruction function. The solar cell 7 is used as a power source when image information is directly input only by the card body 1.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing a use mode in the case where the IC card main body 1 is loaded into the card reader / writer 30 to transmit and receive signals. The reader / writer 30 is configured to transmit and receive image signals and the like to and from the card main body 1 inserted in the card main body mounting hole 31, and a light emitting device is provided at the bottom of the card main body mounting hole 31. Diode array 33 and CCD
A line sensor 32 is provided. The light emitting diode array 33 is arranged so as to face the signal receiving section of the card body 1, and the CCD line sensor 32 is arranged so as to face the signal transmitting section 3 of the card body 1. A CRT display 34 is connected to the card reader / writer 30 so that the content received from the card body 1 can be displayed as an image.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a use mode when image information is directly read only by the IC card main body 1 and stored in a built-in memory. Image plane on which image information to be read and input exists
The roller 4 (not shown in the figure) of the card body 1 is arranged so as to be in contact with the upper surface 20, and while pressing the switch 6, the card body 1 is moved in the direction of an arrow D perpendicular to the length direction of the signal receiving unit 2. , The image information on the image plane 20 is read.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing the internal configuration of the IC card body 1. 40 is a central processing unit (hereinafter abbreviated as CPU)
And controls each device described below. 41 is a comparator for comparing and judging the input image signal level from the CCD line sensor 8 using the signal indicating the brightness of the image plane 20 from the monitor sensor 5 as a reference signal, and binarizing the comparator.
Reference numeral 42 denotes a memory for storing the binarized image, and reference numeral 43 denotes a rotary encoder for obtaining a scanning amount from the rotation amount of the roller.

Next, the operation of the present apparatus configured as described above will be described for each usage mode.

(1) Operation when the card body 1 is loaded into the card reader / writer 30 to transmit and receive signals When the IC card body 1 is inserted into the reader / writer 30 as shown in FIG. Power is supplied from the power supply unit (not shown) of the writer 30 to the card body 1 side.

[Case of Recording Information on IC Card Body 1] When an operation command is given, the light emitting diode array 33 of the reader / writer 30 emits light to record information on the IC card body 1. This light is condensed by the cylindrical lens 9 of the signal receiving section 2 of the IC card main body 1 and is projected on the CCD line sensor 8. Thus, the information is transmitted to the IC card body 1 and the information is recorded in the semiconductor memory 42.

[Case of Extracting Information from IC Card Body 1] When an operation command is given, the light emitting diode array 10 of the signal transmission unit 3 provided in the IC card body 1 blinks for signal transmission. This blinking light is emitted by the focusing lens 11b.
An optical signal is projected on the CCD line sensor 32 of the reader / writer 30. With this projection, the information recorded in the semiconductor memory of the IC card main body 1 is read by the reader / writer 30, and the read information is displayed on the CRT.

(2) Operation when reading and inputting image information using the card body 1 alone The state as shown in FIG.
Roller 4 is brought into contact with the image surface 20 and the switch 6 is pressed. Then, the monitor sensor 5 operates to detect the illuminance on the image plane 20 and send it to the CPU 40. Here, the CPU 40 performs the following processing based on the relationship between the image illuminance on the image plane 20 and a preset level.

When the illuminance is equal to the set level, the adjustment operation of the reference signal level is not performed.

When the illuminance is higher than the set level, the CPU 40 controls the integration time of the CCD line sensor 8 and the integration time of the monitor sensor 5 so that the output of the monitor sensor 5 by the comparator 41 and the output of the CCD line sensor 8 are controlled. The reference signal level is adjusted so that the comparison with the output is performed normally.

When the illuminance is lower than the set level, the light emitting diode array 10 is caused to emit light, and the focusing position P1 is set by the condenser lens 11a.
Is irradiated. Similarly, the reference signal level is adjusted so that the comparison by the comparator 41 is performed normally.

On the other hand, the image at the photographing position P1 is formed on the CCD line sensor 8 by the cylindrical lens 9. The output value of the CCD line sensor 8 is sent to the comparator 41 and the monitor sensor 5
Is binarized by comparison with the output value of the reference signal, that is, the reference signal level.

FIGS. 6 (a) and 6 (b) are diagrams showing the state of the binarization. The output values MC1 and MC2 of the monitoring sensor 5 indicate almost average values of the output values CC1 and CC2 of the CCD line sensor 8. Therefore, when the illuminance level of the target image 20 is low (a),
In either case of the high illuminance level (b), the output of the CCD line sensor 8 can be binarized based on the output value of the monitor sensor 5.

The binarized data sent from the comparator 41 to the CPU 40 is written into the memory 42 by the CPU 40. At this time, IC
Since the card body 1 is scanned in the direction of arrow D shown in FIG. 4, the roller 4 is rotated by friction with the image surface 20.
This rotation amount is detected by the rotary encoder 43 and the CP
Sent to U40. The CPU 40 receives the rotation amount of the roller 4 and calculates the scanning amount of the card body 1 with respect to the image surface 20. Then, when the signal receiving unit 2 reaches the position P2 to be imaged next, the timing signal is supplied to the CCD line sensor 8 to capture an image of the imaging position P2, and is binarized by the above-described binarization means. The value data is recorded in the memory 42. The distance between the image pickup positions P1 and P2 is determined by the CCD line sensor 8.
By setting the distance between the sensors that compose the line
The ratio between the height and width of the image displayed at T33 can be made equal.

The above-described series of operations are performed while the switch 6 is pressed, and reading and input of image information are executed. The power supply during this operation is performed by the solar cell 7.

The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above. For example, in the present embodiment, a power supply required for image input is secured by using the solar cell 7, but a battery may be built in the IC card body 1. Although the light emitting diode array 10 for signal transmission is used as illumination light, an illumination light source may be separately provided. Further, although the roller 4 is used for detecting the scanning amount, a track ball may be used instead of the roller 4. In addition, the roller 4 may be provided with a function of a power contact, or may be provided with a switch function for starting image input when an image is directly input to the roller 4. Further, the signal receiving unit 2 and the signal transmitting unit 3 may be arranged in a two-dimensional plane instead of a linear arrangement. In addition, it goes without saying that various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, since the optical signal transmitting / receiving means is configured to have a function as image information input means for directly inputting image information of the object, Image information can be easily integrated into IC without using a camera
An IC card that can be loaded into the card body can be provided. At this time, the illuminance detecting means detects the illuminance of the reflected light from the target object, and the image information is binarized by the binarizing means based on the illuminance.
An IC card capable of capturing binary image information at an appropriate illuminance level can be provided.

Further, according to the present invention, since the scanning amount of the card body is detected by the scanning amount detecting means, it is possible to accurately set the timing of capturing the image information based on the detected scanning amount. IC card can be provided.

[Brief description of the drawings]

1 to 6 show an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the appearance of an IC card, and FIG.
FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line A, and FIG.
FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing an aspect in which image information is directly read and input to the IC card main body, FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing an internal configuration of the IC card main body, and FIGS. 6 (a) and (b) are image information. FIG. 9 is a waveform diagram showing a binarization operation when direct reading input is performed. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... IC card body, 2 ... Signal receiving part, 3 ... Signal transmitting part, 4 ... Roller, 5 ... Monitor sensor, 6 ... Switch, 7 ... Solar cell, 8,32 ... CCD Line sensor,
9: Cylindrical lens, 10, 33: Light-emitting diode array, 11a, 11b: Condensing lens, 20: Image plane, 3
0: Reader / writer, 34: CRT, 40: CPU, 41:
Comparator, 42 memory, 43 rotary encoder.

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (58) Fields surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁶ , DB name) G06K 19/00-19/18 H04N 1/04

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] An optical signal transmission / reception for transmitting and / or receiving a signal between the memory element and the outside of the card body by using an optical signal. A light emitting element array for transmitting an optical signal comprising a plurality of light emitting elements; a light receiving element array for receiving an optical signal comprising a plurality of light receiving elements; Scanning means for controlling scanning of each element in the element array and the light receiving element array, wherein the optical signal transmitting and receiving means is output from the light emitting element array in a state where the IC card main body is brought close to an object. Image information input for directly inputting image information of the object by irradiating the object with light that is reflected by the light receiving element array and detecting reflected light from the object with the light receiving element array. A stage, an illuminance detecting means for detecting the illuminance of the reflected light from the object,
An IC card, further comprising: binarization means for binarizing the image information based on an output signal level of the illuminance detection means. 2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of: scanning the IC card body in a state where the IC card body is brought close to an object; and scanning the card body while directly inputting image information of the object. 2. The IC card according to claim 1, further comprising a scanning amount detecting means for detecting.